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Monday, May 30, 2016

I can say that without any fear of censure. I might go back
a few centuries for some background info to a time when a man let a barber
named Delilah give him a G.I. cut where there was nothing left but the roots.

There are several things to note about his trim and to start;
he was trusting the wrong barber with his power infused locks.

This began way back, when in disobedience to his parents he fell
in love with a Philistine woman from Timnah, whom he decided to marry. On his way to ask for her hand in marriage,
Samson was attacked by a lion. The
Spirit of GOD came upon him and he quickly dispatched that big cat.

The problem with this was he misinterpreted this event. He
thought it was an example of his anointing and his righteousness when it really
was a; “Stop don’t do it moment.”

A series of this type of warning was ignored by Samson which
finally led to his haircut and the loss of his power. When he yielded to a continual life of
disobedience his destruction was assured.

Delilah was used by the enemies of Samson as a tool to bring
him down and the enemy of your soul will use whatever or whoever to do the same
to you, man or woman.

Understand there is a barber chair waiting for you and there
is no waiting.

Both the pew and the pulpit are constantly being called to
disobey the Christian calling like the siren of old called the seamen to
destruction.

Once heeded the trip downward will be a fast one.

Are you being tempted by a barber who wants to cut your
spiritual hair?

Yielding to their tempting will cause you to lose your
standing and power with GOD all the while you are enjoying “Your sin for a
season.”

Samson thought he could violate the vow of the Nazarite but he was self-deceived by the lust he allowed to rule over
him.

Every Christian who comes to GOD and dedicates himself to
God is taking a vow not unlike the vow of the Nazarite. A closer look at what the vow includes is much
of what is expected of the “born again one” today.

Know this there is a bad barber shop where you live with an
empty chair waiting for the “want-a-be” disobedient.

Let me pose this question to you; knowing you are subject to
temptation how close are you to being seated in the barber’s chair?

It is absolutely essential to avoid the hair cut for it will
destroy your testimony and ministry and do despite to the cause of Christ.

Remember Samson’s folly in thinking he could get away with
ignoring what he knew was the right way to go.

When I
arrived I greeted the kids and Abby. The first words out of her mouth was; “Was
it him”. I tried to change the subject by saying, “Aren’t you glad to see me?”

She said;
“yes but was it him”?

I walked
over to the sink and started to wash up and refresh myself. My attempt to
ignore her wasn’t going to work so I went into the parlor and sat down with her
right beside me.

I began by
telling her about the trip to the Hacienda and meeting the patron.

“Was that
him?” she asked?

I said, “No
that wasn’t him.”

I told her, “I
met a young woman who had two light skinned children and could tell there was
another one on the way. Then I met the man she was married to.”

Before she
had the opportunity to say; “Was it him?” I said, “Yes it was him.”

She said, “I
have to go tell mama,” and she started out the door saying, “Watch the kids.”

I hustled
over and grabbed her by the arm and told her to sit down. She started to protest as I stopped her.

“You haven’t
had time to think this through all you want to do is stir up some trouble and
cause as much harm as you can. First of all you don’t know the circumstances
surrounding all that happened.”

She said, “Well!
What else do I need to know?”

I said, “You
need to be aware that he has had a serious head injury that caused him to lose
his memory. He doesn’t remember anything about this place and the people here.
Not your mother, not you, not me or anyone else. I thought if he saw me he
might snap out of it but everything is a blank.

He is
perfectly happy as he is with his new family. All you could do is cause him
pain and disrupt his life. Then there is your mother. She has moved on and is
married to Len. They are happy together and the news you want to give her will
tear them apart.

The saying
“let sleeping dogs lie” certainly applies in this case. No one knows why I went
to Mexico;
they think I went to pay the remainder owed for the cattle (which I did).

I have had
several days to think this over and I can’t bring myself to ruin the happiness
they have found. I could have lied to you but between you and me there can be
no deceit. We need to leave things as they are and move on knowing Vince is
well and as happy as he has ever been.

The same can
be said of your mother. She is happy as she has ever been with her new man and
all of her friends around her. I can’t spoil her happiness by trying to trying
to put her together with a man who doesn’t know her.”

Having heard
everything I said Abby sat down and was speechless. She finally spoke and said
I never knew what he must have gone through. Do you think we can keep this a
secret? I said yes I think so. No one knows except you and me and there is no
reason for anyone to go to Mexico
who knows Vince. Even if they did see
him he looks so different now they wouldn’t recognize him.”

Abby said, “I
hate it because the kids won’t get to know their grandpa and he them.”

I said, “I
suppose they will have to settle for my Pa.”

As it turned
out Vince was never heard from again and Abby and I never brought the subject
up again except once.

Abby’s
mother, Sally always called her husband grandpa Len when our children came over
to her house and they picked up on that. He was grandpa Len to them which was
okay with me.

Since I had
a back log of work to catch up on my days at the office were long and Abby and
I didn’t have much time to talk.

After church
on Sunday and dinner was over Abby sent the boys out to play and said she had
time to think more on her Pa’s situation and she thought maybe she should tell
Sally about how things stood.

That didn’t
set too well with me for we had agreed to leave things as they were.

I laid out
the reasons once again but she was still wavering. She attached some guilt to
keeping a secret from her mother.

Len and
Sally rode up in the buckboard they used for their shopping and I didn’t want
Abby talking to her mother while being in her present state but there wasn’t
anything I could do about it for they were already in the parlor.

Sally was
over excited as she was gushing about her news. Len was somewhat relaxed about
the whole situation which was unusual for him. Sally couldn’t hold it in any
longer she blurted it out; “I’m going to have a baby.”

Upon hearing
that; the room went silent. For the next half hour there were statements and
questions like; “Are you sure, how did this happen, when is it due and so on.”

Len just sat
quietly, red faced as if he had done something wrong. We found it uncomfortable
to look at each other at that moment. After the excitement died down, our boys
came in and wanted to know what the noise was all about. After I explained to
them about them getting a new uncle or aunt they asked some of the same
questions as Abby had.

Finally
satisfied they went back to playing. Then the noise exploded once again. Abby
shared a secret with her mother she had kept from me because of what had being
going on with Vince.

She was also
pregnant. She realized it was true while I had been gone but the news about
Vince put that on the back of the stove for the present.

The rest of
the afternoon consisted of rehashing the two revelations and I never knew being
pregnant could make women so happy.

Seems the
most important thing about this circumstance was they were going to be the talk
of the women’s circle for the next year or so. Len and I managed to talk about
some legal aspects of some cases litigated back east and how they might affect
issues here in our county. I cut a ham and fried up some slices of it.

I also put
on a pot of grits and some greens for our supper. Sally’s news overshadowed the
fact Abby was with child again and this time it had better be a girl or else. I
asked her or else what?

Monday, May 23, 2016

It was three
years later when Pa and I sent Ben down to Mexico to buy some cattle. We had a large contract to fill and we were a
thousand head short. We wanted to drive the cattle from Mexico to our
range and then feed them out for about six-eight weeks. That would give them
time to fatten up and their new brands time to heal.

Ben finally
got home with the herd and had brought several Vaqueros’ with him. He kept them
here until we had branded the new herd and then paid them off.

In the
meantime Ben said he thought he had seen Vince at the ranch where he had bought
the cattle. There was a man who spoke both English and Mexican fluently. He
said he couldn’t be a hundred percent sure but he sure looked and sounded like
him.

I questioned Ben for some time and he said the man drove a hard bargain
and we were a few hundred dollars short of the amount the man wanted. He let me have the cattle with the promise I
would return with the money very soon.

Ben went on
to say this man was married to a very pretty young Mexican girl and had two
babies with her.

I had to ask
Ben once more, “How sure are you it is Vince?” He replied, “as sure as I can be without
really knowing.”

I got him to
promise he wouldn’t ever tell anyone what he had told me because it could be a
big problem for a lot of people if was true.

I knew Ben
to be pretty sharp and he wouldn’t be easily fooled so I decided to go and see
for myself.

I told Abby
where I was going but not why. I contacted Long Hair and asked if he wanted to
go with me and he declined. He said he
just got him a new young wife and wanted to spend a lot of time with her. I guess I couldn’t blame him for I would have
wanted to do the same.

I took a
couple of hands who had family south of the border and the Vaqueros’ who came
with Ben and we headed south. We took
the chuck wagon they had brought with the cattle to return it to the Mexican
rancher.

Six days
later we arrived at Grande El Rancho a few miles below the border. We were
greeted by the owner and were given the royal treatment. They quickly decided
to have a fiesta on the spot. The Vaqueros’ were glad to be back with their
families and they introduced me to their family members. They said their names
so fast I couldn’t remember hardly any of them but no matter.

On the
evening the owner of the hacienda brought out his grandchildren. I noticed a couple of them were a little
whiter than the others even though they were sun tanned. Their mother was a very pretty young woman in
her twenties. A short time later her husband appeared and to my surprised it
was Abby’s father.

I recognized
him by a scar he had on his neck. He had been cut by a defendant he had found
guilty and the scar stood out like no other I have seen. He wore Mexican garb with sideburns and a
mustache yet it was him.

I could
understand the Mexican language very well but only spoke English around
Mexicans. I wanted to know what they
were saying without them knowing I knew what they were saying.The two hands that came down with me were at
their family’s home and were to meet me in a week.

During this
time I wanted to find out who Vince had become and how all this came about. As it turned out he was attacked on the way to
the town where he was to hold court. Apparently
it was one of the defendants or plaintiffs depending on how you look at it who
wasn’t sure of his position and had attacked him leaving him for dead.

When he came
to - - he couldn’t remember anything about who he was or where he was from.
Some of the Mexicans from this hacienda found him and brought him there. He
physically got well but he still couldn’t remember anything about his past. Since he spoke Mexican fluently he had no
trouble fitting in.

He became
attracted to one of the Patron’s daughters and married her. He now has two
children and she is pregnant again. All in all it seemed to me to be an okay
arraignment. What was to be gained by trying to upset the life he now enjoyed?

Having made
that decision I headed home as I wondered how to handle things when I arrived
home and what to tell Abby.

Monday, May 16, 2016

Abby’s
father was named Vincent, called VIN or Vince by his friends. I called him
Vince most of the time unless the kids were around, and then I called him
grandpa.

He received
a request from a town about seventy miles south of us to come and rule on a
dispute between two of the largest ranchers in that part of the country.

The judge
who normally handled those issues had recently died and there wasn’t anyone to
take his place. People didn’t trust the local attorneys to be acting judge for
they could be bought rather cheaply.

Vince said
he would like to get away for a couple of weeks so he wrote them and said he
would officiate the case.

It was dry
country he would have to traverse in order to get there so he loaded up as much
water as his horse could carry and left about four in the morning. He figured
he could make it by dark that evening if he kept moving and didn’t stop to eat
along the way.

Two weeks
passed and we still hadn’t heard from him.

The stage
ran once a week through the town he was going to; so I asked the stage driver
to check on Vince and see if he made it alright. The shotgun rider said he heard that they were
still waiting for him to get there for the ranchers were heating up about their
disagreement.

Upon hearing
that I hesitated to tell Abby and her mother what I heard but finally decided I
better tell them.

They both
went wild and wanted a posse to head out and find him. It was the next day
before I got them settled down and only then by telling them I would go out and
see if I could find him.

Abby threw a
few things together and shoved me out the door with her last words being; “go
get Long Hair the Indian.”Long Hair was
the best tracker in these parts so I did what she asked. I thought I can track about as well, but there
was no sense arguing with her in her present state.

I couldn’t
really argue with her concern for that is a difficult part of the country as
well as a dangerous part to travel through.

I decided to
take a pack horse and enough food and water for three horses and Long Hair and
me. Also a couple of repeating rifles
made me feel a bit better.

We left in
the afternoon and made about thirty miles to where Long Hair knew where there
was a small spring. Only a very few had ever seen that small spring for it
popped up in some rocks and disappeared just as fast. We watered our stock and gave them some grain,
ate some beans we had brought with us; after which we bedded down for the night.

The next
morning we were up early and cooked some fat back and some skillet bread.We cooked enough bread and fat back for
something to eat for dinner at mid-day.

I always
thought I was a good tracker but Long Hair could see things I couldn’t.After two weeks the trail had gone cold as
far as I was concern but Long Hair kept finding a mark here and there.

Vince had
his horse shod just before he left on his trip which helped distinguish his
horse from others who may have been on the same trail.

About ten in
the morning Long Hair said more men had joined Vince on the trail. After
trailing the men for a half hour he said there were four of them. Then he
stopped short and said; “men fight one hurt.”

He
determined that the hurt one was left injured and the others rode off in
another direction. We searched in vain for three hours when Long Hair said;
“big storm come, must go.”

I had been
watching some black clouds forming over the mountains to the south and thought
we might get some much needed rain in a few hours.

Long Hair
was insistent we head home very fast. The rain was pouring in the mountains and
would soon cause the rivers to rise suddenly. We had to cross a dry Wadi that
would not be passable in short order as the waters flowed down from the
mountains - - so we set off at a gallop.

For the next
five hours we would run at a gallop and then walk the horses trying to out run
the storm. We shared what water we had with the horses and had dumped all the
goods on the pack horse including the packing gear so he could keep up. Finally
I took off his bridle and just let him run free behind us for my arm was tired
from leading him.

We almost
made it home late that night before the rains came. It poured for a week and
flooded the farms along the river.

For sure the
crops were going to be late getting in this year. All the livestock were moved
to higher ground where they stayed for three weeks. As the waters receded they finally worked
their way down from the hills.

Long Hair
said trail lost now. No can find, rain wash away.

He then told
me he had found wagon tracks about a mile away from where the men had fought
and there were foot prints and some blood drops as he walked along. Then he
said there were several footprints around the wagon and then it drove off.

After
thinking about this information we concluded that the man who was injured had
been able to wander off to where the people in the wagon picked him up and
drove off with him.

Long Hair
hadn’t had time to tell me about his find because we were trying to out run the
storm. Besides we couldn’t have followed
the tracks due to the rain.

I related to
Abby and her mother what we found and they asked many questions I couldn’t
answer. The best I could do was; he no doubt was hurt. How much I couldn’t say.
He was probably with the people who drove the wagon and hopefully they helped
him.

Not far from
where they may have picked him up or buried him there was a cross road where
they could have went in several directions. The rain washed out the entire
trail so we didn’t have any clues as to where the wagon went. We hoped he was
well and would someday find his way home.

The next few
months were difficult to bear for all concerned. They wanted me to fill the
position as judge but I refused. I needed to have time for my business as well
as running my law office.

There was a
new jurist appointed and I was pleased with the selection. He was in his
forties and had a good grasp of the law as practiced in our part of the
country.

We had him
over for dinner quite often and as it so happened Abby’s mother was invited
also. She was still in her forties and had a lively step.

I asked Abby
why she usually showed up when the judge was over (as if I didn’t know) and she
tried to convince me it was just a happenstance. They would spend a lot of time
together on the front porch on those evenings and did a lot of laughing and
giggling. One morning I had to go out to the ranch and I was up before
daylight.

As I went by
Abby’s mom’s place I saw the judge’s buggy on the side of the house. I rode out
behind some trees in a gully and waited. Shortly just as the sun began to show
behind the hills he came out and quickly hitched up his horse to his rig. She
came out in her gown and waved goodbye as he left. He whipped his horse to a
gallop and was away in a cloud of dust.

I took care
of my business at the ranch and made it home for dinner at noon.

Abby said
she was going to ask the judge to come for dinner. I told her not to bother for
they were far enough along for her to have him over to her place.

She looked
at me with the look of a heifer when she comes to a new fence.

Monday, May 9, 2016

I thought
back over the years and wondered why there was so much violence in this part of
the country. You would think that because this area had been settled for many
years there wouldn’t be as much bloodshed, but that wasn’t the way it was.

It was up to
the land owners to defend themselves and once stirred up they don’t stop until
issues are completely settled. While
disputes among the land owners were few there were other things that caused
unrest. One thing is the owner’s
children. As the kids grow up there was
the pressure to assert themselves. Much of the time it was an argument over one
of the girls in the area or one of the “for rent” gals in town.

Then there
are the problems that originate from outsiders coming in and causing problems
like rustling stock or taking advantage of the hands when they imbibe too much
on a Saturday night. But as I say,
things are pretty much back to normal for now.

The next big
event in my life was the birth of our second child. To Abby’s disappointment it was another boy. She told me since it was a boy I would have to
name him. I felt that put me in a hard
place for if she didn’t like the name then I would be the culprit for doing so.
I decided his name would be Samuel.So we now had two prophets in our family or
at least two namesakes.

Right off we
could see Sammie had many qualities of his mother. Daniel was going to be like
his grandpa, handsome with a slightly rugged look, but Sammie was going to be
more genteel appearing.I told Daniel he
was going to have to look out for his brother and not let boys rough him up too
much.

Abby was the
prettiest woman in the whole of our county not that looks mattered to me. It was who she was inside that mostly pleased
me. One of my favorite things is
watching first Daniel and now Sammie nurse. If I’m not mistaken I see the first signs of
her breasts losing a little of their perkiness. I suppose this is just normal
for it’s what child bearing does to a woman.

Some of the
women I know with several kids have sagged almost to their waist. I hope Abby
never sags like that, naw she never will.

Abby’s
father finally gave in and accepted a judgeship. The legal community had been
after him for quite a while because most of the judges from back east were
either drunks or dishonest. I told him
it would be politics for him next to which he smiled and said “Maybe so.”

He turned
the law office over to me which required me to find some more help. Franklin my
youngest brother had come to me and said he didn’t think he was going to make
it as a farmer. He wondered if I would
take him on as a clerk or something. June
his wife wasn’t happy living out in the sticks and she figured that she would
be getting pregnant any day now and wanted to be in town when the baby was
born.

Pa had given
him a good farm and I told him he better go tell Pa his decision to return the
farm to him so he could get someone to work it. He did as I told him and came
to work for me. I could see right away Franklin
was better suited for the city life than in the country.

Pa came into
town for some supplies and his old dog came with him as usual. Although the dog
was having trouble keeping up due to his age; Pa hated to make him stay at home
so he went everywhere with Pa.

While Pa was
in the store some ruffian hauled off and kicked Pa’s dog and broke some of his
ribs. Pa heard the dog yelping and came
out to see his dog in pain. He picked the
dog up and took him to a doctor that worked on people as well as animals. The
doc wrapped the dog’s chest and told Pa to keep him quiet. Pa said the dog
stayed either under the house or by the fireplace so he would be alright.

Pa asked the
people who saw what happened and they told him the man went out of his way to
kick the dog and then rode out of town at a gallop.

Pa told the
hands with him to take the goods to the home place, care for the dog and he
would be back in a few days. After getting some food he lit out in the
direction taken by the man.

I asked Pa
if he wanted me to go with him and he said no he would take care of it.

It was about
seven days before Pa got back home and everyone was relieved to see him. Some had wanted to try to go find him but Ma
said absolutely not for Pa would be very angry if they thought he wasn’t able
to tend to business.

The dog was
still sore but got up and went over to Pa and welcomed him home. Abner came
over from where he lived with Jeanie Ann and asked if everything was taken care
of and Pa said, "Yes it got done."

Monday, May 2, 2016

Why is it
when you think you have everything under control something else pops up?

I received
notice that Jeanie Ann was being sued by someone from back east. They claimed
they were the rightful heirs to the property we just won in the court case
against the man who molested Jeanie Ann.

The next day
three people and their battery of lawyers showed up and a few days later we
found ourselves in court for a preliminary hearing.

Abby’s dad
read over the suit and said this is a bogus attempt to take the property from
Jeanie Ann. Go and tell Abner not to do anything for he will just get into
trouble if he takes matters in his own hands. When he said that an image of a
sinkhole I knew of came into my mind with several new inhabitants.

I did as I
was told and Abner finally agreed not to do anything for now. From the way he looked and talked I knew these
people would never live to enjoy any of their ill-gotten goods should they
prevail in the suit.

Three days
later Abby’s father said I just received a wire from the detective agency I
hired to completely check out these people and we are ready to go.

The rest of
the afternoon we spent laying out our strategy.

The opposing
legal teams spent the morning setting forth their legal position and then turned
it over to us. Abner and half of his hands were sitting in the front with their
weapons with them.

I thought no
matter what the ruling was these people had already lost. If they win they are
dead and if they lose they may get away with their lives. It was up to me to
start the defense so I started by asking many questions about who the people
were and where did they live.

In the first
ten minutes they told fifteen lies and then I reminded them the penalty for
lying under oath. Then I asked if they wanted to change any of their answers
and they looked at each other and become very nervous.

I asked the
judge to excuse the one I was questioning and called the private detective to
the stand. I got by his qualifications and him being licensed by the state
where he was living. I asked him if the people who were suing were telling the
truth in their testimony and he said no they were lying. He then took out his
notes and went down a list he had copied.

The judge
asked him a few questions about his testimony and then he called all three of
the plaintiffs to stand before him and asked if they lied when I asked my
questions and they said yes and then the whole story came out.

As it
happened another attorney in our town had followed the proceedings and how
Jeanie Ann had come to own the disputed property. He then contacted the eastern
attorney’s and they set the whole thing up. They got some actors to pretend to
be heirs and now their plot had fallen apart.

We had filed
a countersuit and the judge said he would hear that as soon as he passed judgment.
The three plaintiffs received fifteen
years and a large fine. The legal team were given one year and lost their
license to practice law plus a fine of twenty five thousand dollars.

The judge
said that he ruled for us on the countersuit and set the settlement at fifty
thousand dollars. That was more than the plaintiffs and their lawyers could pay
so the judge made them pay what they had and gave us a judgment on the rest.

They kept
shouting that this wasn’t the way it was done in their jurisdiction but the
judge gaveled them down. He then said to the attorneys I want the name of the
attorney who concocted this whole fraudulent scheme.

At first the
lead attorney hesitated but when the judge threatened a contempt charge against
them with more time in jail he gave him the man’s name. The Judge told the
bailiff to see to it the lawyer was arrested and brought before him.

The bailiff wasted
no time in looking for the lawyer but he was nowhere to be seen. A week later
still no lawyer in fact he was never found. Most believe he took a cattle train
as far as it went and then he took a passenger train on to the west.

The judge
saw to it that the lawyer's license was revoked but he said if he went to the northwest
he will probably end up as a judge.